Spring 2015

The Safe Harbor Beacon The Newsletter of Safe Harbor Easton

At Safe Harbor, we are blessed to have such

incredible support from the communities that

we serve. As the new year begins, we hope to

expand our network of friends even further!

With that in mind, we would like to invite you

to participate in a fun, active event to benefit

Safe Harbor!

The Highmark Walk is an annual 5k walk

funded by Highmark Inc. The corporation

sponsors the event so that 100% of the money

donated goes to the nonprofits involved.

The walk will take place on May 30th this year

at DeSales University. Check-in begins at 7:45

am, and the 5K walk starts at 9:00 am. An

alternative 1-mile fun walk begins at 9:15 am.

We hope you will consider forming a team to

participate in the Highmark Walk! This event

is a fun, family-friendly way to raise funding

and awareness for Safe Harbor.

To register or find more information, visit

Safeharboreaston.com. At registration, you

will be given the option to choose Safe Harbor

as the recipient for any donations you raise.

Additionally, anyone who raises $25 or more

will be given a free T-shirt for the walk, while

supplies last!

Highmark Walk For A

Healthy Community

Safe Harbor is excited to announce the return of Freedom

Fridays! Every Friday from 8pm - 10pm, house manager Jeff

Caulfield plans a fun activity for everyone involved. Past

Freedom Fridays have featured spades tournaments, rummy

tournaments, snacks, movies, popcorn, and ice cream! These

events strengthen the ties between residents, day program

participants and staff and reward everyone for making it

through another busy week. If you are interested in

Jen came to Safe Harbor as a case manager in

February of 2012. She started her career at the

domestic violence shelter in Warren County, and

has worked at the Lehigh Valley Drug and Alcohol

Intake Unit and as a counselor at Northampton

County Prison since.

Jen graciously transitioned into the position of

Director of Operations in December. She maintains

many of her case managing responsibilities in

addition to taking on her new role, and has shown

incredible poise and dedication in shouldering her

new responsibilities.

In her transition, Jen is grateful to have a balance

between her case managing and administrative

duties - “opposite sides of the business”, as she calls

them. She believes that the transition has

highlighted the invaluable but different skills of Safe

Harbor’s staff, allowing staff members to work in

roles that showcase their personal strengths.

We thank Jen for her hard work and dedication, and

look forward to Safe Harbor’s bright future under

her direction.

this issue

Highmark Walk P.1 Employment Services P.2

Thank You to the Community P.3 Words of Wisdom P.4

Safe Harbor would like to

introduce Jennifer Collins

as Director of Operations

Freedom Friday at Safe Harbor is back!

Improving the Quality of Life one Person at a

Time

sponsoring a Freedom Friday, please call Safe Harbor at 610.258.5540.

Safe Harbor Staff

Director of Operations

Jennifer Collins

Director of Development

Tyler Rogers

Day Program Case Manager

Jeffrey Poch

Administrative Specialist

Elizabeth Ponstingl

Employment Specialist

Elizabeth Doughty

Lead House Manager

Jeffrey Caulfield

House Managers

Angel Cintron

Ron Bartholomeu

Shawn Ferriera

Board of Directors

President

Richard Adams

Treasurer

Janice Alleman

Secretary

Bernadette Fennimore

Bonnie Winfield

Kelly Prentice

Dr. Brett Feldman

Jeffrey Finegan

Lynn Harrison

Carl Dolder

Bill Schroeher

Chris Thornton

Join us in thanking

Pedro for his

dedication over the

last 25 years!

Pea

rly

Bak

er’s

20

th A

nn

ual

Ch

ili

Co

ok

-off

!

PEARLY BAKER’S of downtown

Easton was generous enough to

make Safe Harbor the beneficiary

of their 20th annual Chili

Cook-Off!

The cook-off featured tantalizing entries

from 20 local restaurants and drew a

crowd that wrapped around the block!

Savory Grille won People's Choice with

their Bacon-Bourbon-Bison

Chili, while Two Rivers Brewing

Company won the Judges' Choice with

their chili made from jalapeno, chipotle

and banana peppers, topped with

chocolate and raisins.

Safe Harbor received all $2,500 collected

from admissions.

We were sad to say goodbye to

Pedro, our house manager of 25

years who retired in December.

Pedro, you are greatly missed by all

of your friends here at Safe Harbor!

Thank you for your years of

unwavering dedication!

Safe Harbor Employment Services

Here at Safe Harbor, we are blessed to have a highly successful

employment services program. Overseen by Employment

Specialist Liz Doughty, the program provides residents and day

programmers with career counseling, resume and cover letter

feedback, online job search assistance, and connections to

employers in our contact network.

The program has made great strides recently, partnering with

local staffing agencies to increase successful placement to 80%.

Not only do clients have a better chance of finding employment

by accessing Safe Harbor's employment services, but a

vanpool-concept system has been established to provide reliable

transportation to and from work sites when public transportation

falls short.

Liz is available for employment services appointments Monday through Friday, 9am to 3pm. You

can contact Liz at ldoughty@safeharboreaston.org or at 610.258.5540. Liz is also available at the

Easton Community Drop-In Center (60 North 4th Street), where Safe Harbor holds an employment

services time slot from 9am to noon on Thursdays. Residents and day programmers seeking

employment can utilize the computers at the Drop-In Center and attend the weekly employment

group.

Safe Harbor 2nd Annual Golf Tournament

Safe Harbor’s 2nd Annual Golf

Tournament will be held at Riverview

Country Club on June 15th. For tickets or

more information please visit our website

at safeharboreaston.com

Safe Harbor would not be what it is today without the selflessness of the volunteers that help keep our programs and services operating. The generosity of our community and our volunteers is incredible.

Thank you again, and we look forward to many more years of working together!

For more Information about the shelter please visit our website at Safeharboreaston.com or email us at info@safeharboreaston.org

Phone: 610.258.5540 Fax: 610.258.8144

The Couponing Corner

How to successfully pricematch at

Walmart and Target

You’re probably wondering what it

means to “pricematch.” Pricematching

is where you find an item cheaper at

another store, take that store’s weekly

flier and show it to your cashier at

Walmart or customer service at Target.

Walmart and Target will pricematch

any local competitor (Kmart, local

grocery chains/ pharmacies, as well as

online stores such as bestbuy.com,

sears.com and items sold by amazon on

amazon.com).

There is also a free app you can

download on your phone called “flipp”

which has all of the current weekly store

flyers for your area.

Happy Shopping!

A Safe Harbor Success Story Former Resident becomes Staff Member

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY ORGANZATIONS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Papa John’s of Easton has partnered

with Safe Harbor for fundraising events

and stepped in when the shelter is in

need of a last minute meal provider.

THANK YOU from everyone here

at Safe Harbor!

Meal Providers Lunch

Green Pond Methodist

St. Paul’s Stichers

Palmer Moravian Church

Arndt’s Church

First UCC

Faith Lutheran Church

First Presbyterian Church

Fellowship Baptist Church

Trinity Episcopal Church

Great Shiloh

Olivet

Secular Franciscans

Roberta and Friends

Amma Group

Dinner

Charlie and Friends

Pilgrim Presbyterian

College Hill Presbyterian

Schoeneck Moravian

First Hispanic Baptist

St. Anthony of Padua

Good Shepherd

St. Rocco’s

Our Lady of Mercy

Faith Friday Fellowship

Wind Gap Korean Baptist

St. Andrew’s Lutheran

St. John’s UCC– Nazareth

St. Paul’s Lutheran

Quaker Meeting

St. Vincent De Paul Society

Slate Belt Baptist

The Finegans

We would like to

give a special

thanks to FAITH

LUTHERAN for

providing a Bible

Study class every

Sunday night at

6:00pm.

A native of Southside Easton, Shawn Ferraria grew up in a

low-income household with a single mother and two brothers.

He met his father at age 16 and began working for his

construction company. For years he used the money he made to

buy his brothers’ school lunches and pay his mother’s rent as

she struggled with the mental health problems that have

affected multiple members of his family, himself included.

Shawn decided to put himself through college, where his drug

addiction began. His dependence eventually put him on life

support for 23 hours and 52 minutes (a mere 8 minutes away

from the 24-hour life support limit for patients

without insurance) and landed him in Northampton County Prison

for a year for a crime that, to this day, he has no recollection of committing.

Shawn spent his sentence “getting his mind balanced.” He read the Bible and went to church

service every night. Shawn was discharged to Safe Harbor, where staff member Jeff Poch

took him under his wing. After almost a year, Shawn secured housing of his own. He pro-

ceeded to return to Safe Harbor and volunteer over 60 hours a week. Now almost 2 years so-

ber, Shawn has been hired as a house manager. He is thankful to have the opportunity to

help others overcome the same obstacles he once faced. “You can’t start the next chapter of

your life if you keep reading the one before,” Shawn explains, “every day I sit down and

think, how can I better myself from yesterday?” We are happy to welcome Shawn onto Safe

Harbor’s staff and are grateful for all of his hard work and determination!

Safe Harbor Easton

536 Bushkill Drive

Easton, PA 18042

610.258.5540

Non Profit Org.

U.S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 185

Easton, PA 18042 We are looking for community members and/or organizations

to donate funds towards a badly needed lavatory

restoration. The plumbing, showers, and toilets are in poor condition from very heavy use. Our fourteen female residents

utilize a single restroom in their dormitory several times a day,

while our twenty-two male residents utilize two restrooms

in their dormitory. The restrooms have not been

updated since the shelter was founded. It has been 21 years of

good performance, but the plumbing, toilets, sinks, and

showers must be replaced and new plumbing installed.

Please visit our GoFundMe page to help us reach our goal to repair our

restrooms at the shelter!

http://www.gofundme.com/jh6ncc

Lavatory

Project

WORDS of W I S D O M “I try to STAY MOTIVATED. At times it gets a little

overwhelming. The thing that keeps me going is to just THINK POSITIVE, that’s what gets me through. It’s not easy but it does help out. Things are

going to get better in time, but IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN IT HAPPENS” -Anonymous (current resident)

“It’s NEVER TOO LATE to do something with your life. People tend to

give up, but at any point you can change your life around. You need a support system, you need a plan. You can’t just wing it. But with those things

in place, IT IS POSSIBLE TO MAKE A CHANGE.” -Tommy (former resident)

“My definition of HOPE is: HANG ON, pain ends.” - Kris, (current resident)

“I’m going to LIVE, I’m going to LOVE, and stay straight and sober

because the way I feel now is BETTER THAN ANY DRUG I EVER DID.” - Anonymous (current resident)

“If I let my circumstances dictate what I feel, I’m never going to feel good.

When I wake up in the morning, I’M GOING TO DECIDE how I feel that day!” - Ed (former resident)